


Conceding Defeat

by telperion_15



Series: Dirty Laundry [2]
Category: Primeval
Genre: Humor, I've got a theory, M/M, Proof
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-16
Updated: 2012-03-16
Packaged: 2017-11-02 01:19:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/363424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/telperion_15/pseuds/telperion_15
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Abby gives up, and Connor gets proof.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Conceding Defeat

Grateful for a chance to relax after another hectic day chasing – and being chased by – prehistoric monsters, Abby perched herself on a low wall and settled down to some people watching. Ryan and his team were packing up their equipment and rather half-heartedly trying to clean up some of the carnage created by the latest rampaging predator. Claudia had her mobile phone clamped to her ear, and appeared to be having a somewhat heated argument with whoever was on the other end of the line – probably Lester. And Cutter and Stephen…now, there was an intriguing sight.

The two men were sat side-by-side on the open end of their truck. They weren’t talking to each other, and yet neither seemed uncomfortable with the silence. And they were sitting so close together that Abby couldn’t see daylight between them. Stephen’s left arm was completely hidden behind Cutter – in fact, it almost looked as if he was…

“Hi, Abby!”

Connor plonked himself down next to her with his usual lack of grace, interrupting her train of thought – something for which, at that moment, Abby was rather grateful for.

“Where have you been?” she asked him, trying to keep her thoughts from veering back in the direction they had been heading.

“Oh, just collecting samples that the dino left behind during its rampage,” Connor replied. “Blood, saliva, faeces, you know the drill.” He patted the bag slung over his shoulder, giving her a knowing look, and Abby resisted the urge to edge away. Right now she didn’t really want to be near dinosaur excretions of any kind.

“So, that was some day, wasn’t it?” continued Connor, oblivious to her discomfort. “I gotta tell you, being chased by monsters really makes people show their true colours.”

Without even having to ask, Abby suddenly knew exactly where this conversation was heading – in precisely the direction she was trying to avoid. And annoyingly, she couldn’t think of a single way to stop it.

“I mean, when Professor Cutter jumped in front of Stephen as that thing was charging towards him…if that doesn’t prove that something’s going on between them, then nothing does.”

“They’re friends,” Abby pointed out for what felt like the millionth time. “Of course they would try to protect each other. And besides, the creature didn’t go anywhere near them.”

“Only because Captain Ryan shot at it,” said Connor dismissively. “Otherwise it would have run right over them. Look at them,” he added, gesturing towards Cutter and Stephen. “If those two aren’t in love then I’ll sell my limited edition Luke Skywalker action figure on Ebay.”

Abby gave in. It was easier that way. And besides, she’d run out of arguments.

“Actually, I think you might be right,” she said.

The look on Connor’s face was priceless, almost making her defeat worth it. He looked like he couldn’t quite believe what was happening.

The shock didn’t last for long, however.

“Yes! I know you’d see it my way eventually. You knew I was right all along, you just didn’t want to admit it.” Then he paused. “Incidentally, what has made you admit it?”

Abby jerked her head towards the two men sitting on the truck. “Like you said – look at them. It is kinda obvious.”

*   *   *   *   * 

Stephen watched Connor and Abby’s lively conversation with interest. There was no putting anything past those two, was there? How pleased Connor must be to be finally proved right about something.

Absentmindedly, he let his gaze drift down to where his left hand was resting against Nick’s denim-clad bum. Thus far, Nick hadn’t put up any protest about this rather intimate gesture in such a public setting. In fact, he didn’t seem to have noticed at all.

Stephen decided to try a small experiment. Raising his hand slightly, he gave Nick’s bum a quick pinch.

The reaction was instantaneous. Nick practically leapt off the end of the truck, and then turned to glare at Stephen.

“What the hell are you doing? Being a bit obvious, aren’t you?”

“Relax, Nick,” replied Stephen. “The only way people are going to notice is if you jump three feet in the air and then run away like a girl. And since you’re already halfway there, don’t you think you’d better settle down a little?”

Nick risked a quick glance around. Everyone was going about their business – nobody seemed to have noticed his sudden movement. Nobody…except Connor and Abby, who were looking at him and Stephen with poorly disguised interest.

Nick gave the pair a small smile, and then turned back to glare at Stephen again. “Oh great, now Abby and Connor think that something is going on,” he hissed.

Stephen chuckled. “Give me a break. You know Connor’s been on to us from the start – since before there was anything to be ‘on’ to, in fact. And Abby’s not stupid either.”

Nick looked worried. “You don’t think they’ll make an issue out of it, do you?”

“Those two? Not a chance. In fact, if Connor had his way he’d probably be planning our wedding. Why, do you have a problem with people knowing?” This last was said with a small amount of suspicion, and Nick hastened to reassure Stephen.

“No, not at all. At least, not under normal circumstances. But I can just imagine the fallout if Lester were to find out. He’d love an excuse to chuck me…and you…off the project.”

Stephen frowned. “Would Lester really be that narrowed-minded? I mean, I know he’s government, but…”

“Oh no, I don’t think he’d kick us out because of _that_ ,” said Nick. “I don’t think he’s particularly gender-specific about these things. He’d probably get rid of any couple within the team – whether it was you and me, Abby and Ryan, Connor and Claudia, or any other combination thereof. He’d probably say it was distracting us from our work, or something.”

“And would he be right?”

Nick grinned. “Oh, of course. But he doesn’t need to know that!”

Stephen grinned back. Then the smile changed to a frown.

“Er, Nick…?”

“Yes?”

“Connor and Claudia? Where on earth did that come from?”

Nick adopted a mock-puzzled expression. “I really have no idea.” Then he winced theatrically. “But can you imagine what would happen if those two got together? Connor would be all like ‘quick, there’s a Star Trek marathon on the Sci-Fi channel…’”

“And Claudia would say…” Stephen adopted a high falsetto voice. “…‘not until you’ve finished writing me a report about the effect of ladles on the Permian era’.”

Both men snorted with laughter, and then quickly checked that neither Claudia nor Connor had overheard them. But Claudia was still arguing with someone on her mobile, and Connor and Abby appeared to be having a rather excited debate about something.

Turning back from watching Claudia, Nick suddenly found that his face was no more than two inches from Stephen’s, and that he was staring straight into the other man’s deep blue eyes.

“Nick,” said Stephen quietly, “why are we talking about Connor and Claudia?”

“Hey, you started it,” exclaimed Nick, but his protest was half-hearted at best. He found that he was having trouble concentrating.

Stephen ignored Nick’s response, instead asking another question. “Do you have anything left to do here?”

“No, not really…”

“So why are we still hanging around? I don’t know about you, but I can think of several _much_ more interesting things I’d rather be doing right now…”

“Such as…?”

“Well…” Stephen raised one eyebrow, letting his expression do all the talking.

Nick suddenly realised that Stephen was right – there _were_ more interesting things than watching Ryan and his team clear up monster mess.

“Do you want to drive, or shall I?”

*   *   *   *   * 

Connor and Abby watched slack-jawed as Cutter and Stephen jumped off the end of the truck and practically threw themselves into its front seats. Seconds later the vehicle roared to life and sped off, leaving a cloud of dust in its wake.

“Did you see what I just saw?” stuttered Connor, looking as if he didn’t know whether to cry or dance a jig.

“Yes, I did,” replied Abby, shocked to have her new-found agreement with Connor’s wild theory confirmed so soon.

“I mean, could they have been any more blatant about it?”

Abby glanced around. “Nobody else seems to have noticed,” she pointed out.

Connor looked around too. Abby was right – everyone else was still going about their business, apparently unconcerned about the hurried departure of the professor and his assistant.

He shrugged. “Clearly you have to be in the know about these things. Now, who can I investigate next? Maybe Ryan and Lester…”

 


End file.
